BRIEF ON IRAN, No. 191 Friday, June 16, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 Germany and Iran, The Washington Times, June 15, By Joshua Muravchik* Germany has much to be proud of in its near half- century as a democracy since World War II. But it is covering itself with shame in its unseemly indulge of one of the world's most repugnant regimes, the bloody mullahs who rule Iran. In pursuit of the almighty deutscmark, Germany has made itself the prime exporter of goods to Iran, while Iran remains the prime exporter of terrorism to the world. And this week, Germany has even sacrificed its hard-earned democratic principles by bowing to Tehran's demand that it helps silence Iran's opposition. The German foreign ministry announced that it will prohibit Maryam Rajavi, leader of an Iranian opposition organization, the National Council of Resistance, from traveling from France to Germany where she was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a rally of her group's supporters in Dortmund this weekend. The announcement followed meetings between German officials and Iranian government emissaries, and Bonn made clear that its motive was solicitude for Tehran. "There is an obligation in international law that no state may allow its territory to be used for calls to overthrow another government," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman explaining the decision. This is arrant nonsense. There is a principle in international law that bars a state from allowing its territory to be used for military attacks on another state. But non that bars advocacy of rebellion. Every free country hosts refugees from tyranny, and often those refugees call for the overthrow of the governments they fled.... In self-justification, the foreign ministry pointed out that Mrs. Rajavi's group advocates "a violent overthrow in Iran." Well, what are its alternatives? If the Iranian regime did not make a practice of arresting, torturing and murdering its opponents, if it left space for non-violent opposition, these people would not be in exile in the first place.... How, but by violence, can the Iranian people liberate themselves from the vicious, misogynistic (and economically incompetent) regime which rules them by violence? ... While the law certainly does not bar advocacy of the overthrow of tyrants, it does require that governments facilitate and protect the free exchange of ideas. To wit, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bonn is a signatory, says: "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally [or] in writing." How, pray tell, can Bonn reconcile this legally binding obligation, and other such declarations it has signed, with its exclusion of Mrs. Rajavi? According to the Reuters news agency, German "government officials say Bonn has used a 'critical dialogue' to urge Iran not to try to undermine other regimes, and would loose credibility if let Maryam Rajavi speak here." The futility of 'dialogue' is proven daily in the terrorist outrages in Egypt, Israel and Algeria - all aided by Tehran. Most likely, Germany knows that the idea of such a dialogue is laughable, and just talks this way as an excuse for doing lucrative business-as-usual with Iran despite its sponsorship of terrorism and drive for nuclear weapons. But if there were something to the dialogue, no democrat can accept the equation being drawn here. Tehran does not merely advocate -or allow exiles to advocate- the overthrow of other regimes. That would be no problem. But it also trains terrorists and supplies them with guns and explosives and sometimes with diplomatic cover. Shall we in the West say that if Tehran refrains from fostering terror, we will quit promoting democracy? The answer should be obvious. But in its eagerness to cozy up to despots, Bonn seems to be losing its own clear grasp of democratic principles. * Joshua Muravchik is a Resident Scholar at American Enterprise Institute. Canadian MPs Call for Boycott of Mullahs' Regime, From a statement issued by the Secretariat of the NCR - Paris, June 15 In a press conference today at Charles Lynch gallery of the Parliament of Canada, two Canadian MPs, Mr. Mark Assad (Lib), vice-chairman of agriculture, and Mr. Bill Blaikie (NDP), international trade spokesman for the New Democratic Party, announced the call by 60 members of Canadian Parliament to impose sanctions on the mullahs' regime in Iran.... In his address to the reporters, Mr. Assad said: "We believe the NCR will expedite the establishment of democracy in Iran and contribute to the restoration of stability in region. The National Council of Resistance headed by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, is gaining strong support from western countries. I believe that the NCR is the only hope for democracy in Iran."... European Parliament Condemns Assassination of Two Mojahedin Women, From a statement issued by the Secretariat of the NCR - Paris, June 15 In the evening of Thursday, June 15, the European Parliament issued an urgent resolution condemning the murder in Baghdad of two Mojahedin women by "Iranian government agents."... In presenting the resolution to the Parliament, Mr. Ernesto Caccavale, Vice-president of the EP Human Rights Commission, said: The Khomeini regime's latest extra- territorial crime woke us up to the fact that we can no longer have relations with this dictatorship or tie hopes to Rafsanjani. The time of hypocrisy is over. Europeans must find other alternatives in Iran, Mr. Caccavale said.